There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862Quotes
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
—Aristophanes, c. 424 BCPolitics is the art of the possible.
—Otto von Bismarck, 1867No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, 1215A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.
—John Nance Garner, c. 1967I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
—Thomas Jefferson, 1787The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziLet him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1944